Shield for welders&#39; helmets



March 14, 1967 W.-T. BOYD 3,308,477

SHIELD FOR WELDERS' HELMETS Filed July 12, 1965 \NVENTOR WAYNE T BOYD United States Patent 3,308,477 SHIELD FOR WELDERS HELMETS Wayne T. Boyd, Garibaldi Way, Squamish, British Columbia, Canada Filed July 12, 1965, Ser. No. 471,360 3 Claims. (Cl. 2-8) This invention relates to a shield for a welders helmet and particularly to a shield for the window of a hood to protect it from rain drops when the hood is in both its raised and lowered positions, and which operates automatically and independently of movement of the hood between the latters raised and lowered positions.

In welding, drops of water falling upon the welders hood tend to obscrue the window thereof both when the helmet is in its raised and in its lowered positions. This is very inconvenient, requiring frequent drying of the window and the consequent loss of welding time. In order to protect the window in the welders helmet, shielding devices have hereinbefore been devised which are automatically operable to serve as a visor over the window when the helmet is in its lowered position and thereby protect the window from rain drops and the like, and to cover the window so as to protect the latter when the helmet is raised above the head. These devices have, in the main, been of rather complicated design and which are therefore subject to damage with consequent derangement to their working components. The relatively complicated moving mechanism has also resulted in the shield of this type being somewhat expensive of manufacture and cumbersome.

The present invention provides a shield of this type which is of extremely simple manufacture and therefore relatively inexpensive to produce.

The present invention also provides a shield of this type which is easy to install and which is readily adaptable to any make of hood.

The present invention comprises the combination of a welders helmet having a head band and a hood pivotally connected thereto for movement between positions in front of a wearers face and above his head, said hood having a window; a shield pivotally mounted on the hood and being adapted when disposed in a horizontally extending position to extend from the hood over the window when the hood is arranged in front of the wearers face and to extend across the window so as to cover the latter when the hood is arranged over the wearers head; and counterweight means connected to the shield to balance and maintain the latter in said horizontally extending position.

In the drawings which illustrate the invention,

FIGURE 1 is a front view of a helmet with the invention in place, showing the latters position when the hood is over a wearers face,

FIGURE 2 is a view looking down on the window casement with the invention in place and the hood over a wearers face,

FIGURE 3 is a section taken on the line 33 of FIG- URE 1,

FIGURE 4 is a side view of the hood shown in lowered and raised positions on a wearer by solid and broken lines, respectively, and

FIGURE 5 is a front view of an alternate embodiment of the invention.

Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated a conventional welders helmet which is comprised of a hood 11, formed usually of a moulded fibrous material, having a substantially planar forward face 12 and side wings 13 which are pivotally connected, as by rivets 14 extending through said side wings, to a head band 17, the latter usually being of an adjustable size so as to tightly fit a wearers head 19. The hood 11 is pivotally "ice movable from a position in which the face 12 thereof is .substantially vertical to a position over the wearers head in which the face extends substantially horizontally, as shown in FIGURE 4.

This hood has also formed thereon so as to extend outwardly of the face 12, a rectangularly shaped window casement 22. This casement is in line with the eyes when the hood 11 is moved over the wearers face.

In this casement are fitted a number of sheets of glass 24, the outermost one of them being embraced in a metallic frame 25 which is hingedly connected to an elongated pin 26 extending between brackets 27 secured on either side of the casement adjacent the latters upper edge. This pin is usually held in place by nuts 28 threadedly engaged at its ends 29 and tightened against the brackets 27. A coil spring 30 is arranged over the pin normally maintaining said outermost window against the window casement.

The shield of the present invention, herein accorded the numeral 35, comprises'a rectangularly shaped cover 36 arranged to fit over the outer end of the window casement 22 so as to cover the glass sheets 24. This cover may be made of a light plastic or light sheet metal and is formed having a pair of arms located on opposite sides of the shield adjacent one edge 38 thereof and extending normal to the planar surface of the cover 36. These arms 37 each have an aperture 40 formed therethrough adjacent their juncture with the cover, said apertures being adapted. to pivotally embrace the pin 26 adjacent the ends 29 of the latter, and have secured at their free ends 32 counterweights 33. These counterweights may be incorporated into the arms at the time of moulding of the shield if the latter is made up of plastic or may be fastened to said arms in any suitable manner.

The shield is affixed to the helment by unscrewing the nuts 28 from the pin 26 and fitting the arms thereover so that said ends 29 of the pin extend through the apertures 40. The nuts 28 may then be tightened down over the arms sufiiciently to hold the latter in place but, however, permit the cover to pivot freely on the pin 26. The arms 37 extend on both sides of the window casement 22 and the counterweights are sufficiently heavy that they will counterbalance the weight of the cover 36 so that the latter will always be balanced in a horizontally extending position.

It will be seen that when the hood 11 is drawn downwardly over the face, the cover 36 will extend horizontally out from the hood above the glass sheets, as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4 of the drawings, so as to shield the glass sheets from any rain which might be falling. It will also be seen that when the hood is moved to a position above the head, the shield will pivot on the pin 26 so that the cover 36 will automatically position itself on the glass sheets 24.

It will be appreciated that in certain welding operations, particularly where welding must be carried out from underneath an article to be welded and where the welder of necessity must look upwardly, the shield 35 must be capable of being held immobile in a position extending from the hood. The nuts 28 therefore may be so that they may be easily tightened down on the arms to bind the latter against the brackets 27, the friction being sufficient to hold the shield immobile.

FIGURE 5 illustrates another embodiment 50 of the invention. Shield 50 is of somewhat the same construction as shield 35 having a cover 52 and arms 53 corresponding to arms 27, the latter having counterweights 55.

In shield 50, the arms 53 thereof are formed of a stifily resilient material, such as plastic or spring steel and the like, and are provided with an inwardly extending pointed pin 56, the latter being adapted to grip the window casement 22 so as to hold the shield in place thereon. These pointed pins will ordinarily not be driven into the material forming the easement sufliciently to prevent pivotal movement of the shield as the hood is moved in relation to the'head.

In order to maintain shield 50 immobile, the arms 53 thereof are provided with stub arms 58 formed of malleable material, such as malleable sheet iron, and which may be folded over the edges of the casement 22 when the cover is positioned so that it extends outwardly from the hood. The stub arms 58 will therefore limit the pivotal movement of the shield so as to prevent the cover from assuming a position covering the glass sheets.

In order to again permit the shield 50 to pivot freely on the hood, it is only necessary to straighten the stub arms so that they will clear the window casement.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. The combination of a welders helmet having a head band and a hood pivotally connected thereto for movement between positions in front of a wearers face and above his head, said hood having a window; a shield pivotally mounted on the hood and being disposed in a horizontally extending position extending from the hood over the window when the hood is arranged in front of the wearers face and extending across the window covering the latter when the hood is arranged over the wearers head; and counterweight means connected to the shield balancing and maintaining the latter in said horizontally extending position.

2. The combination of a welders helmet having a head band and a hood pivotally connected thereto for movement between positions in front of a wearers face and above his head, said hood having a window; a shield pivotally mounted on the hood and being disposed in a horizontally extending position extending from the hood over the window when the hood is arranged in front of the wearers face and extending across the window covering the latter when the hood is arranged over the wearers head; at least one lever arm connected to the shield to move the latter; and a counterweight carried by the lever arranged balancing and maintaining the shield in said horizontally extending position.

3. The combination as claimed in claim 2 including means to releasably immobilize the shield relative to the window.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,191,562 7/1916 Callahan 28 2,309,599 1/1943 Kinney 28 2,618,781 11/1952 Beauverger 28 2,644,159 7/1953 Jacobs 28 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner. I. R. BOLER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. THE COMBINATION OF A WELDER''S HELMET HAVING A HEAD BAND AND A HOOD PIVOTALLY CONNECTED THERETO FOR MOVEMENT BETWEEN POSITIONS IN FRONT OF A WEARER''S FACE AND ABOVE HIS HEAD, SAID HOOD HAVING A WINDOW; A SHIELD PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON THE HOOD AND BEING DISPOSED IN A HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING POSITION EXTENDING FROM THE HOOD OVER THE WINDOW WHEN THE HOOD IS ARRANGED IN FRONT OF THE WEARER 